Posted by Richard Peters on November 18, 2006 at 1:08 PM
I was just curious how you good folk sharpen your images?
Some of the pictures I see here sometimes look so clear and smooth with fur/feathers looking pin sharp so I was just wondering how you all go about your sharpening in photoshop.
Posted by Phil Shaw on November 18, 2006 at 1:32 PM
For web images I use several passes with Unsharp Mask after I have down-rezzed the image for posting.
Sharpen using USM – Filter>Sharpen>Unsharp Mask using amount = 100 percent; radius = 0.2; threshold = 2. Immediately select Edit>Fade from the Menu Bar. The Fade (last command) palette will appear; under the Mode drop-down menu in the Fade palette select Luminocity (at the bottom of the menu) then select OK. This will apply the USM sharpening to the luminocity data in the image and does not affect the colour information. By doing this you will avoid creating obvious halos. Apply this procedure several times (typically upto five times) or until it starts to look crunchy and then delete the last one or two applications which will be recorded in the History Palette.
For prints I will typically use a commercial product call PhotoKit Sharpener, or I will produce my own Edge Mask and apply sharpening with that, with or without a Blend If routine.
Posted by writepic on November 18, 2006 at 6:39 PM
does anyone know where that web article was on sharpening? i think i found the link to it here and it was about 5 pages of indepth sharpening techniques, i found it most educational, would be a good repost if anyone knows where it is.
For web use: If it's a subject against a totally plain background I'll often make a very quick selection of the subject only, by using a combination of the magic wand and brush (in quick mask mode) to select the plain background,then inverse it, so just the subject is selected.
Then use the command Select-Modify-Contract enter 4 pixels.Then apply one or two passes of USM at the following amounts-100%,0.2,0.
Then,use the command Select-Modify-Expand and enter 2 pixels,apply another pass of USM at the same settings.
Then,once again use the command Select-Modify-Expand and enter 2 pixels,(so I'm now back to the complete subject being selected) apply another pass of USM at the same settings.
Deselect (so the whole image is selected) and apply another 1 or 2 passes of USM, again ,at the same settings of 100%,0.2,0
If the image starts appearing too over-sharp,I just go back a couple of steps in the History pallette.
If the image needs a little more,apply as many passes as required to give a pleasing result.
Sounds like a lot of messing around but the whole process only takes a matter of seconds.
I use this method to avoid any obvious halos and to avoid unnecessarily sharpening areas that don't require it,i.e. the sky.
If the image has detail throughout and I want everything sharpened equally I just apply multiple passes of USM at 100%,0.2,0
For print:
Not really experimented a great deal so usually just use a single pass of USM at varying amounts depending on the image itself and final print size.
Amount ranges from perhaps 180% up to as much as 380%.
Radius ranges from perhaps 0.5 up to as much as 1.2.
Threshold often at 0,but sometimes 2 or 4 is used if image contains any noise and/or large areas of plain,detail-less colour.
Discussion
3 repliesSome of the pictures I see here sometimes look so clear and smooth with fur/feathers looking pin sharp so I was just wondering how you all go about your sharpening in photoshop.
Sharpen using USM – Filter>Sharpen>Unsharp Mask using amount = 100 percent; radius = 0.2; threshold = 2. Immediately select Edit>Fade from the Menu Bar. The Fade (last command) palette will appear; under the Mode drop-down menu in the Fade palette select Luminocity (at the bottom of the menu) then select OK. This will apply the USM sharpening to the luminocity data in the image and does not affect the colour information. By doing this you will avoid creating obvious halos. Apply this procedure several times (typically upto five times) or until it starts to look crunchy and then delete the last one or two applications which will be recorded in the History Palette.
For prints I will typically use a commercial product call PhotoKit Sharpener, or I will produce my own Edge Mask and apply sharpening with that, with or without a Blend If routine.
does anyone know where that web article was on sharpening? i think i found the link to it here and it was about 5 pages of indepth sharpening techniques, i found it most educational, would be a good repost if anyone knows where it is.
Then use the command Select-Modify-Contract enter 4 pixels.Then apply one or two passes of USM at the following amounts-100%,0.2,0.
Then,use the command Select-Modify-Expand and enter 2 pixels,apply another pass of USM at the same settings.
Then,once again use the command Select-Modify-Expand and enter 2 pixels,(so I'm now back to the complete subject being selected) apply another pass of USM at the same settings.
Deselect (so the whole image is selected) and apply another 1 or 2 passes of USM, again ,at the same settings of 100%,0.2,0
If the image starts appearing too over-sharp,I just go back a couple of steps in the History pallette.
If the image needs a little more,apply as many passes as required to give a pleasing result.
Sounds like a lot of messing around but the whole process only takes a matter of seconds.
I use this method to avoid any obvious halos and to avoid unnecessarily sharpening areas that don't require it,i.e. the sky.
If the image has detail throughout and I want everything sharpened equally I just apply multiple passes of USM at 100%,0.2,0
For print:
Not really experimented a great deal so usually just use a single pass of USM at varying amounts depending on the image itself and final print size.
Amount ranges from perhaps 180% up to as much as 380%.
Radius ranges from perhaps 0.5 up to as much as 1.2.
Threshold often at 0,but sometimes 2 or 4 is used if image contains any noise and/or large areas of plain,detail-less colour.